Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Terrorism, as we knew it, is no longer the same. It is now a "man caused disaster". This completely blunts the effect. A "man caused disaster" does not have the same effect as terrorism. Janet Napolitano (secretary, US Department of Homeland Security) beat many of our social justice warriors to it. They would have loved to have come up with that substitute themselves. However, we knew they were implying the same in their many columns and debates.

This is a peculiar trait of our social justice intellectuals. Create nuances to grave problems and hijack public discourse to avoid reaching any concrete solution.

So terrorists entering our borders and gunning innocent people down are really militants fighting for freedom. That's exactly how a terrorist is referred to in our news media. Terrorism cannot be defeated with apologies. It is a tough battle. Pakistan attacks India via terrorists and it us who must understand them. It is us who must extend a friendly hand. Even in the face of increasingly obvious evidence and the history of our conflicts with Pakistan, it is us that must act like a big brother.

It is the same wooly-headed cerebrating that leads many of our public commentators to argue for Kashmir's secession. None is prepared to face the truth, but is inclined to believe that the terrorists will happily give up their killing habits if Kashmir is given away.

The Muslim persecution theory has been in vogue for quite a while now. While the Islamists are free to make a mockery of our constitution and freedom in our country, it seems, anyone else but the Muslims are responsible for them. This theory has been perpetuated without any proof. Muslims prosper as much, if not more, in this country as anyone else. Be it politics, entertainment, art, business, science, technology we have seen many a Muslim succeed. Even the Sachar Committee report contradicts itself.

Our public intellectuals are living in denial. They hope to make problems go away either by choosing to not acknowledge them or by apologising for them. It is not as if these intellectuals do not realise that denial is no solution. Even a man on the street understands cowards run away from problems.